Why did Nick Saban stop coaching? “Age began to be a problem”: in his last hours at Alabama
During a planned SEC coaches video call, he joined. He talked to a lot of people about the job opening for the teaching staff.
A person with knowledge of the interview said that one of them ended just 15 minutes beforehand the interviewed coach started getting messages with news that would change college football forever: the Alabama great was quitting.
By any measure, Saban was a very successful coach when he left. There were 16 teams left in the College Football Playoff this past year.
It went to Atlanta and killed the Georgia dragon. And it went perfectly in SEC play, beating foes Auburn, Tennessee, and LSU. Jayden Daniels, the Heisman Trophy winner quarterback, led the team to victory.
“I don’t think there’s a good time,” Saban said when asked about when he should quit. “Even more so if you’re a coach. Because when you become a coach, you think you’ll always be a coach.
But I thought that my age was becoming a bit of a problem when it came to choosing teachers and players.
It got progressively more difficult for me to tell people the truth when they asked if I was going to stay here for three, five, or whatever length of time.
“To be honest, this past season was really hard. Going from where we began to where we are now was a real grind. It was harder on me than usual.
The first two games of the season were lost by Alabama in Week 2 to Texas in a non-conference game. This loss made things murky in Tuscaloosa regarding the QB situation.
After that, the Tide won all of their games, went perfect in the SEC, beat Georgia in the SEC title game, and played No. 1 Michigan to extra time in the Rose Bowl.
“People say it was because of my health, but it was simply the grind of, ‘Can you do that the way you want to do it?'” Could you do it the same way you always have? Also, you should be able to keep doing it all season.
With those two things in mind, I thought that maybe now was the right time to make a promise to do that future year the way I think I need to do it.
The world of college is very different, which has changed a lot in the last few years. Being a college coach is a lot harder now than it used to be because of the transfer site, NIL, and even the way recruiting is covered. Saban says it’s just too hard for him to keep up at his age.
“When I was young, I could work till two in the morning, wake up at 6 (a.m.), and be there the following day, and become full of energy and go for it,” he shared.
“But when you get getting older that gets a not much tougher and I’m positive a lot of people can relate to that.”
Nick Saban, the 72-year-old coach of Alabama, has chosen to quit. His time as a coach was one of the best in college football history.
The seven-time national championship-winning leader is leaving the game after 17 years with the Crimson Tide, the school said Wednesday.
According to 247Sports, Saban told the Tide about his choice in a team meeting. He said that he was retiring because of his age and health.
The 2023 College Football Playoff semifinals were the last game for Alabama. They lost 27–20 in overtime to Michigan, who went on to win the national championship.
SBAN said in a statement, “The University of Alabama was an extremely important institution to Terry and me.”
“We have loved every minute of the past 17 years as Alabama’s head coaches and as members of the Tuscaloosa community.”
The goal constantly was to assist players in building more wealth for the future, become the best players they could be, and do better in life while they were in school. We will always think of Alabama as our home, and we hope that we have done that.
Saban has won seven national titles, one at LSU in 2003 as well as six at Alabama (2009, 2011–12, 2015, 2017, 2020). His total at Alabama matches that of famous Tide coach Paul “Bear” Bryant as the most in the history of the sport.
He is the only coach in the history of the AP Top 25 (since 1936) to win national championships with two different FBS teams. He is also the only coach to win national championships over three decades.